


Who Guards the Guardian

by SerenStone



Series: Destiny 2 Prompts [14]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Blood, Canon-Typical Character Death, Do Not Do As the Warlock Do, Gen, Self Harm, We Stan Exos in this House, We Stan Ghosts in this House, We Stan Titans in this House
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:48:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22898254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenStone/pseuds/SerenStone
Summary: Prompt: Les Friction's song "Who Will Save You Now"
Series: Destiny 2 Prompts [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583290
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	Who Guards the Guardian

Katya-7 kept her focus on piloting the Temerity toward the Futurescape as Astrophel coordinated with Ana. They had been on mission in the Tangled Shore when the call came in from Isaac that Shry was AWOL. It had taken almost two days to extract from the Shore and there had been no word from Isaac since. 

It wasn’t often that Shry needed their help; rarer still that they were called upon. But ever since she’d lost Arthil Shry would occasionally… lose touch. She would point herself at the closest high-density enemy target and she wouldn’t stop until there was nothing left to destroy. Berserker, Astrophel had called it once. The rage built up in her until she could no longer contain it. 

“What holds up the rage?” Katya had asked. “Rage, anger. They are always a secondary response to another emotion.” Astrophel had not given her an answer but Katya expected that the primary emotion was grief. Shry’s bond with Arthil had been her primary attachment to humanity and the Guardians, to reality in some ways. For better or worse, Isaac had never tried to fill that role. Katya herself did not value Astrophel as Shry valued her Ghosts. Astrophel was a friend and a partner but that was all. There were days when Katya wondered if she was missing out on something.

“It sounds like Shry was heading into the Descent when Isaac contacted us,” Astrophel said, turning from the comms panel. “Ana said that she didn’t catch what Shry was after but that she heard them talking about going to the Depths too.”

“Does Ana need anything urgent?”

“Nope. She’s worried.”

“Because she’s smart,” Katya muttered, swiftly going through post-flight checks and pre-orbital-stasis preparation. 

“Armory is at full readiness,” Astrophel announced as Katya rose. “Transmat ready and waiting.”

“Take us into the Basin. We’ll see if we can reach Isaac before we dive in.”

A quick transmat and a long silence later, they made their way into the Olympus Descent. The deeper they got, the more the caves stank of Hive, char, and ozone. Astrophel quietly updated her on the number of crushed worms they passed every hour or so. The further in they got, the more concerned Katya became. Previously, even when she’d broken, Shry’s trail had always shown evidence of tactics, strategy. This, though, this was a mess. No sign of a plan or fear in the lines of bullet casings, dead worms, blood splatters. When they passed the twelfth smear of blood so massive it had to be the site of a human death, Astrophel made a sound like a swallowed scream.

Katya dropped into a roll to about face, her auto rifle coming up as the arc grenade on her belt began to spark. Astrophel’s focus was on a second large smear of blood just a few meters from the twelfth. There were bloody handprints around the smear, and sweeping lines of blood surrounded them. Katya approached slowly, quietly asking Astrophel for more light. Near one of the handprints was something that looked like a knife. 

Astrophel scanned the thing, his shell shifting in a manner Katya associated with him being uncomfortable. “Bone. I think it might be Xol’s. Shry’s blood on the blade and handle.” Katya worked her jaw before scooping it up and putting it in a case on her belt. “I could-”

“No,” Katya’s voice was harsher than she meant for it to be. She took a moment to reset her vocal settings. “I don’t want you to have to touch it. I’ll give it to Ana for scans and ask her to destroy it after.” He had no answer for that and so they continued into the darkness. 

Katya wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the caves when she finally began to hear sounds of combat. She stilled, listening as she redirected her focus from arc to void. They approached carefully, unsure whether Shry would recognize them. When they finally found the fight, she waited around the corner, watching as Shry threw herself at enemies with so little regard for her own safety that Katya winced. Katya was known to ignore personal injury for the sake of reaching a goal but this was something… else. She’d seen Shry ignore wounds before, but this time Shry was continuing to fight when she had a visibly broken arm, a mangled leg, a viscously bleeding head wound, and burns all over her back and hip. 

Shry took a hit from a Knight and screamed in fury, spinning even as the room shook with the force of her Stormtrance ripping through the air and the Knight. It was only when the Knight fell that Katya saw the pale sword in Shry’s good hand. It looked a great deal like the knife they’d found in Shry’s blood. Katya slipped into the fight as the Stormtrance ended, working to ensure that she only injured the Hive and then channeled them toward Shry. 

When berserking, the warlock was jealous of every enemy life ended. The first time she had entered the berserk state, Isaac had gotten a call out for help that Cayde had answered. Shry had not recognized him and had lumped him in with the Fallen as a result. Once, Katya had gotten Cayde very, very drunk and he had told her about fighting Fallen while trying to pin down a Guardian who ignored taking a golden bullet to the shoulder, about begging Isaac not to resurrect Shry long enough for him to clear out all the Fallen and then get the hell away. Even drunk, he refused to say whether Shry had killed him. 

“We all got our breaking points,” he’d said, quieter than she’d heard him. “I might be an ass but I try not to be a hypocrite or a bigot. I’m an EXO. I know how scary it is to forget. She keeps it pointed at the enemy from now on, the Vanguard won’t hear about it from me.” Katya had spent that night fighting not to make comparisons between Katya-5 and Cayde-5. 

It was after the second instance of Shry losing herself to the berserker state that Isaac had called Katya through Astrophel and explained what was happening and asked for her help. “She trusts you,” he’d said, audibly worried. “You’re the only person to tell her no that she listens to.”

“What do you expect me to do that Cayde couldn’t do?” she’d asked.

Isaac had been quiet for a long moment. “Survive.” He’d sounded choked. “I think you’re the only one who could survive her.”

“Cayde-”

“I won’t ask Cayde to do this again,” Isaac’s voice had been sad but final. “I don’t mean physically survive. I mean you won’t hate her. You’ll come out the other side and still be you. You’ll survive and still let Shry be Shry.”

Katya remembered staring at the comms panel for a long time. “Yeah. I can do that.”

Eventually Katya was the only living being in the room with Shry. Trusting Astrophel to grab it, Katya tossed her rifle away, her entire sensory array aimed at her lost friend. Sluggish with blood loss but with all the focus of the woman who had single handedly shattered the Red Legion, Shry turned her attention to the EXO. Katya clenched her jaw and summoned her Shield.


End file.
